A while back I went through the same thing--wanted some head-bangin' material, but don't like the whole growl thing.

Okay, here we go. I picked up "Blood Mountain" by Mastodon. A little bit of growling, but not overbearing. The dude can actually sing. . .sort of.

Also, I tried "In the Abscence of Truth" by Isis. I like this one a lot. Isis is more akin to Tool in that they draw out the songs a bit more--which is good since there is excellent musicianship. And, no growl!

Okay just kidding--there is a bit of growl, but just a teeny bit. It's hard to sing along to a song that goes, "Rururur rurur rururururrruru (scream) ruru ru rurururu."

I have very similar interests in the metal side of things - big time metallica fan as well. I have not found anything recently that caught my metal interests. Some old school Iron Maiden (Piece of Mind) or Black Sabbath sound pretty good on the Axioms.

If you like AIC, what about Soundgarden? Badmotorfinger is a classic.

For more recent music - Have you considered Porcupine Tree - they have some metal-ish elements in their songs, but some melodic as well. Their songwriter Steven Wilson produced a few Opeth albums, nad the lead singer of Opeth (Akerfeld?)sings backup (not growling) on their "Deadwing" album, which is pretty heavy. Also, "In Absentia" and the recent "Fear of a Blank Planet" have some heavy riffs. I highly recommend them.

System of a Down have some good songs with a tongue in cheek mentality to boot.

Speaking of "metal purists", I never really understood the mentality. I've loved the genre since... well I can't remember not loving it. But I never got the whole "that's not true metal" or whatever. Even though metal is my love, if music is good then it's good.

Last night for example - I'm flipping through channels and come across Heart Live in Seattle on HD Net. Wow. These girls (and guys) sound amazing. If you put the lead singer on American Idol it would be a joke how much better she is than anyone who has won on that show IMO - I was blown away by her control of her voice. The band is also very tight - I am impressed, and I never was a Heart fan.

BTW, I second the recommendation for In Absentia by Porcupine Tree, especially on dvd-audio as well as Rock in Rio Iron Maiden dvd concert.

I really like Chevelle too, although I haven't bought their latest yet. Something about their use of harmonies (at least I think that's what it is) does it for me.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. So far I've purchased Outshined by Soundgarden (yeah, lots of radio play, but this one deserves it), Cult of Personality by Living Colour (see above), and In the Absence of Truth by Isis.